Apocalypse
by Darth Deedlit
Summary: The End of Lodoss.
1. Prologue (Aprehension)

**Prologue (Apprehension)**

It had been almost two years since the battle against Kardis. Deedlit was still riding with Parn on his adventures. Several villages were saved, people in distress were relieved from it and so on. The friendship between the knight and the high elf was growning with the passing of the days.

Both of them, silently, wished to see their friends again, but neither of them said nothing.

One night, Parn and Deedlit set camp near the 'Forest of No Return'. That bought memories to Deedlit's head and while Parn was looking for wood to make a fire, the elf was thinking about her friends again, they became like a second family to her.

"Hey, Deed!" Parn woke the elf of her thoughts "what are you thinking about?"

"I... well, being here... brings memories, you know?" she shyly said not looking at him.

"I know what you mean..." said Parn as he sat down next to the elf and looked to the sky, "...even though it was a serios matter, I kinda miss those times and...". Parn suddenly stopped.

Deedlit knew why, but instead of addressing the matter straight found in this a chance to express her desire. "Parn... what if...?" Parn looked at her. They both stared at each other for a while, as if reading each other's minds. Parn knew what she wanted to say and Deedlit knew that Parn understood what she wanted.

"Deedlit, tomorrow we head to Valis!"

Parn made the fire, Deedlit did the cooking, and the dinner passed without words between the two, for they were thinking about what will happen the next day.

Morning came. Both awoke early and rode to Valis, still in silence but smiling.

When they arrived at Valis they were warmly welcomed by Fianna, the now Queen of Valis and Etoh, the Priest of Pharis and Parn's childhood friend. The idea to see the others was appealing to Etoh and he agreed to go with them and look for the others. The Queen had to stay and made them promise that they will all return there to meet her as well.

They found Slayn and Leylia in Marfa's Temple, along with Neese, Leylia's mother and High Priest of Marfa. At the beginning, Slayn and Leylia were reluctant to go with them but Neese insisted that they needed to have vacations after all thay had done and at last they agreed.

Finding Orson and Shiris proved to be very difficult but they finally found them in the way. A very nice surprise was that they had a third member in their clan, and that was Woodchuck, the former thief Parn rescued in Alania. The thief was believed to be still under Karla's possession, but for some reason he was now free.

Now that they were all together, they decided to have a meal on the field. It took Parn and Deedlit three months to gather the band and decided to make the meal were their last friend was located. Ghim's thomb was located near Lake Stillness and was a good spot to have their vacations there, now that the Witch was living with Wort, the Sage.

After visiting Ghim and then stting the camp, making fire and meal they shared stories, jokes and had a little dance too. It was such a joyus moment for them and no one wanted those vacations to end.

When night finally came, Parn came closer to where Deedlit was and gave her a flower "Are you having fun, Deed?"

Deedlit took the flower and gave him a hug "We are lucky to have the finest friends of all!"

Parn broke the hug and looked at Deedlit's eye "Deed, there is something I want to say to you for a long time now."

"Yes? What is it?"

Parn's face reddened and he looked away and scratched his head, obviously nervous. "Erm... I will tell you tomorrow, I promise!"

"OK, Parn, as you wich." Then she kissed him in the cheek "Good night!"

After that the sun was fully set and in a sky full of stars is where they slept.

What they did not know is that they would not see the sun or any other star in a very long time, and that some of them would never look ath the again at all... for that was an Endless Night.


	2. Hope

**Apocalypse 0:01/HOPE**

Red.

All was red.

Deedlit was looking at the window of the mansion she just fell to.

Yes, she fell. She did not knew then what happened. For her it was some kind of dream she woke up from and, at waking up, fell from the dreamscape. She does remember she fell from the mirror, wich made it even more strange. But as she was watching the scenario outside the mansion, she thought that the fact that she just appeared as if out of nowhere was not too important right now.

She recognized she was still in Lodoss. She recognized the ruins and the dead soldiers uniforms.

After she accepted that it was definitely not a dream. She decided to explore the place she just woke up in. She had her normal clother on, minus the cape. Her sword was in it's usual place and held it close as she began to walk in the mansion.

A mansion with long halls, ripped paintings, broken sculptures and ragged carpet, but neat nevertheless. She inspected every room. Being her an elf she was light and made no noise. What she saw in every room troubled her. Persons sleeping and what she identified as the Marmo's armor at their side in large ammounts on each room. And she kept looking.

She arrived to a place she knew was the living room. And she saw Ashram, too. Deedlit was surprised, not because she saw Ashram, his enemy, but because she was actually not surpised to see him. "Seems like I'm getting used to all this chaos". She thought.

She approached quietly until she stepped in some light. She wanted him to see her. Specially, she wanted him to see the sword she defiantly had in her hand.

He seemed busy looking and writing on a map that he did not saw or heard her. It was not until he felt the cold steel on his throat that he realized he was not alone.

"If you got this close, you really deserve to end me" he colddly said to her. He finally was able to see the face of the figure in front of him and he smirked. "You are that elf that tried to kill me on the War of the Heroes. Most importanly. you are the HIGH ELF that was going to be sacrificed to Kardis! Am I right?". Still not a word from Deedlit.

"Please trust me". His face turned serious. "If you are not with Kardis, then that means we are on the same side and must help each other," he said as he began to raise his sword. She replied by giving more presure on his throat with her own sword. "Hey, hey... I'm slowly going to let you keep my sword for a while, until you learn to trust me!".

Deedlit took his sword and now had both swords pointing at him, one to his throat and one to his heart. Deedlit finally spoke. "What the hell is going on here? And why did you mentioned Kardis?" she firmly asked.

Ashram looked sincerily surprised. "You mean you don't know? Where have you been for the last three years!?". Deedlit as confusd and it showed a little. Ashram noticed it. "You really don't know, then." Ashram raised from his chair. "Allow me to explain..."

"A Dark Elf named Pirotess," he began, "who was a companion of mine until she died in Fire Dragon Mountain, gave her soul to Kardis so she could return to this word and settle things with the Elfs." He was carefully tring to read Deedlit's face but he couldn't, "The one condition was for her to sacrifice the remaining High Elf so she can be resurrected. Kardis gave Pirotess god-like power and now she is very dangerous. She killed all the elfs... or so we all thought...". He looked at her again. "She is looking for you. You are the key element on the outcome of this war!".

Deedlit, being a High Elf, was able to discern heart intentions. She was looking but did not found wicked inclinations on Ashram no more. She returned him his sword and lowered her own.

Ashram continued, now more relieved. "Among the powers Kardis gave to her was the power to influence in the minds of others. What she did was influence in the leaders of the nations and they began fighting each other for Kardis' power. Only three remained: Alania, Valis and Flaim. And they united their forces to erradicate the last resistance: us". Ashram began to pace around Deedlit as he continued speaking, "To aid the Trinity, Kardis freed beasts and demons from hell itself. Alania is on it's way to find us as we speak, they will arrive in a couple of days."

"What can we do?" the Elf aked him.

"Well, we thought this was going to be our last fight, since our numbers are few... but now that you are here, I think we have hope. Being an Elf you are the only one who can truly see through the veil of lies and illusions of Kardis. You are an Elf of Light, you have the power to turn the tide. I think you are the only one who can finish Pirotess!"

"I understand" said Deedlit, taking a deep breath.

Ashram took Deedlit to the biggest room in the mansion and told her to rest there.

Deedlit did not wanted to stay long. She wanted to look for her friends. Specially Leylia. She had the desire to confront Pirotess and defeat her, also. She knew that Ashram would not let her go so she had to sneak out of the mansion and travel under the blood red sky.


	3. Path

**Apocalypse 0:02/PATH**

The following days where not silent. Clashing of swords, growls and shouts could be heard throughout the days. The army was getting ready for the war against Alania, now possessed by the influence of Kardis, the Goddess of Destruction.

Emperor Ashram trained as well with them, but most of the time, he was thinking about a strategy that would suit the army.

The mercenaries Shiris and Orson had just arrived that morning from their scouting mission and already gave the report. An unorganized army of demons. beasts and men of about 5,000 units was approaching. Ashram's army had reduced their numbers considerably at this point. His army, composed by only men, was of about 1,500. Ashram knew that the key to survive this battle, if it can be survived, is to be more intelligent, organized and braver than the enemy.

Even so, there was an even bigger issue that concerned Ashram now. Deedlit was gone, and if Kardis gets a hold of her, the world is done.

He called SHiris and Orson to his tent to give instructions on the next mission.

"The High Elf appeared here yesterday," stated Ashram, "but she left during the night".

"What!? Blackie, you had ONE job!" said Shiris.

"Your mission is to find her as soon as possible", Ashram continued, "as you know, the enemy is also looking for her".

"No problem, Blackie!" said Shiris as she was grinning. "We had tracked Elfs before, so we will find the elf however sneaky it is, and bring it back to you".

"No!" shouted Ashram. "Don't bring her back, she must've think of something, she knows she is a target, she may have thought another plan. Your mission is to find her and protect het at any costs".

"Ok, then, consider it done, right, Orson!?" said Shiris to Orson, his reply was just a small nod.

They wasted no time. They knew their mission this time was very important. Since they just got back from a mission, their stuff was already packed so it took them no time to go on their journey.

"The harder step to take, after you're giving a new mission is...?" she said to Orson, to what orson coldly said, in his usual way "The first one". "That's right!" replied enthusiastically Shiris. They did this small ritual on every mission they were given. This was done in memory of the former third member of the mercenaries party, Calabazzo, also a mercenary and Shiris' brother.

It was the first thing Calabazzo said upon taking their first mission as mercenaries "The hardest step is always the first one!". for two years they shared many adventures together. Calabazzo and Orson were very good friends and he was always teasing Orson about him marriying his sister. He enjoyed watching them both blush and get angry all of a sudden.

But then on that fateful day when Hyuri awoke again. Shiris was in danger. A Dark Elf took her by surprise and stabbed her in the shoulder. When Orson saw this, he went berserk. It had been a long time since he had gone berserk and it suddenly awoke. The Dark Elf managed to flee from this mortal foe and unfortunately his first victim was Calabazzo.

The last words he said to his sister is for her to forgive his friend Orson since he did not knew what he was doing. Shiris' temper made this very difficul, but she was honestly able to when she began to mediate and try to understand the nature of Orson's curse.

So that small ritual at the begining of every mission was a remainder to Shiris about her brother, her promise and to remind her that, no matter what, Orson is her friend.

"So... where to finish?" said Shiris as she was inspecting the back of the mansion. "Obviously she came out of the window, it was the only way, but wish path she took, mmh?"

"Follow the wind". Orson said.

"Right!" said Shiris. "Elfs are light so they leave no footprints, we can only follow their elements and try to think like them!".

They were good. The path they followed lead to several places where the elf set up camps. They knew it was the elf because there were no traces of a fire.

"Alright Orson, seems like our target is not too far away now. It must've caught our scent by now and knows we are following her", Shiris reminded Orson. "So be ready to see her hiding in the usual places trying to figure out our motives. Since we don't smell like blood, it will not attack us. Did you bring our secret weapon?". Orson replied by taking out a thin whistle. "Nice! Open your eyes!".


	4. Somewhere Around Nothing

**Apocalypse 0:03/Somewhere Around Nothing**

Shiris and Orson's journey to find the Elf proved to be more difficult than they espected. The temperature was decreasing rapidly. It was not the kind of cold they were capable to endure, like other occasions. The world had changed and so did the weather.

"Orson, the wind is getting stronger. Soon, the Elf won't be able to hear the melody with all this noise!" Shiris weakly but firmly said to Orson. "I think it's better if you start playing!"

Orson did not said a word, he just started playing a beautiful melody. It was an elfen melody they were thought to play by a High Elf they helped some years ago. He thaught them that melody for them to ask for aid to the elfin kind, to identify them as friends of the elfs. They had only used it a couple of times and it prooved effective.

This time, however, nothing seemed to happen. The song was soothing and long, of about 17 minutes, and Orson, by this time, had played it 4 times.

"Gimme that!" said Shiris loosing her patience and taking the thin whistle from Orson. "You are playing it wrong!".

Shiris began to play the same melody... or so it seemed.

"Oh, please never play that instrument again, Shiris, it's offensive to my kind".

Deedlit appeared in front of them, with a warm smile. "Unlike her, you, Orson, played wonderfuly!".

"You are the High Elf we are looking for!?" said Shiris, very surprised to se a familiar form "Thank the gods! I had no humor to befriend another elf".

"You won't have to, anymore, though..." said Deedlit, with sadness in her eyes. Deedlit sensed something and smiled at them back. "I'm happy to see you are ok, too".

Shiris explained everything to her, what they had lived since that fateful day, three years ago.

"It was horrible," she began, "it happened too fast! We were in Lake Stillness, right? I was not able to sleep that night, unlike everyone else, so I saw it all. It began with the sky. It shanged to different colours very fast, until it faded to red. That's when I reacted and was about to tell you guys but there was a blinding light coming from you, blondie".

"A blinding light?" Deedlit asked.

"Yes!" Shiris continued. "Everyone else woke up when they saw this light. Then you just disappeared... and at that moment... sound... a big noise was heard. What seemed like thousands and thousands of voices screaming in unison to the north. It took us time to react. Not that it was going to be very useful, though. We saw another light. But this one was big. Very big... and took the shape of a winged woman... that form screamed in a horrible way I cannot describe... and that's all I remember...".

They all remained in silence for a while. Then Shiris took the word again.

"What happened to you, where have you been!?" she asked to Deedlit.

"Honestly I don't know... I have an idea of what happened but I'm not sure". Deedlit answered. "I felt like I was in a void and then I fell from it through a mirror and to the mansion Ashram is using as headquarters, that happened not so long ago".

Again, they remained in silence by the fire.

"So, where are you headed?" Shiris asked.

"To Marfa's Temple. I want to see what happened there and if we can get anything that will help us against Kardis". Deddlit answered.

"As I told you, our mission is to protect you, so we go with you!". Shiris sayed, standing up. "And I know that we, since we are humans, will slow you down due to this weather, but, hey! It's better to be safer than to be hasty!".

Deedlit, also standing up answered "In other circumstances I would've rejected you coming along with me, because of the imminent danger, but in this times, I welcome the company".

On the next day of their journey, the sky in that region changed from red to pink, and it started to snow. The snow and the wind made it very difficult for everyone to see. But Deedlit knew where they were and the path to follow.

Along the road, they saw corpses of beasts and demons there and there. Frozen to death. The cold weather seemed to have caught them by surprise.

"I don't know if this is bad news or good news..." Shiris muttered.

After a couple more days, Deedlit began to notice they were hungry and weak. "There was a village nearby. I guess we can stop for a while and look for food".

They arrived to a very small village, of about 8 houses. Not a soul in sight.

"Let's split. Search everywhere for any sign of somethin edible", Deedlit said. "Also, keep your eyes open for secret vaults".

They split and began searching for food. Some houses were empty and some had frozen people in it. They searched in every corner of the houses they entered and, when they were finished, both girls saw Orson standing still in fron of a house. "He must have found something!" said SHiris, who know her friend better than anyone.

They approached the young man and Shiris asked "Well, did you found food?". In answer, Orson just walked inside the house and led them to a secret room filled with a variety of food on bottles and dried beef on bags. Shiris' face beamed with happines and ate a little without saying a word. Orson did nothing and Deedlit understood. "Don't worry, Orson. I'm not hungry, yet. You can eat for me". Orson noded and began eating with Shiris, with much less ferocity.

By the end, they made an improvised kart, not too big, to carry some food for the journey. Orson took the kart and dragged it the rest of the journey. When any of the girls offered help he refused. "It can't be helped" said Shiris.

The next morning it stopped snowing. The temperature was still cold but far more bearable this time. The sky was recovering it's red colour. But at least they could finally see the horizon and they saw the mountains. Marfa's Temple was closer now. Deedlit knew that the enemy's eyes were on that Temple, but it was their only chance, it had to be quick before it's too late and the enemy gets a chance to react. She wanted to get Leylia, yes. But she also had something else in mind.


End file.
